Root To Root Or Not To Root!

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

So I know all the risks involved with rooting as I'm not a noobie to the game. I started out on my first smart phone being the HTC Droid Eris. Yes an oldy but goody. Trust me I still have the phone and if I knew where I could get a new screen for it online I would get it and use it as a little play toy because it's the first phone I ever rooted. Scared the crap out of me when I did it because I thought I bricked it.

Anyways, I even rooted my Thunderbolt too. Damn I miss that phone. OK, so! Since I know the risks involved and even though rooting has become way more common and a bit "safer" and easier to do nowadays I honestly wanted to ask if I should do so considering that a new update is scheduled to be released by the end of this month. I do know that with the DNA and after speaking with an HTC tech the other day that Verizon might not push it to us as soon as it's released from HTC.

I've been having some small, very small bugs with my phone as of late. I'm almost sure that it's not any of my apps because they have been on my phone for a good long time. So unless I get the consistent issues with the phone for one so that it can be replaced OR if rooting will ensure these issues being gone and an even smoother operating phone then I'm kind of at a stand still with wanting to root my daily used phone.

I will tell you the things I miss about my MAXX. One was the notification bar including the battery being that LOVELY ICS blue. I'm so in love with that color that I use GOSMS Pro and have the ICS Ultimate color scheme running on it. And I miss being able to swipe all the way thru my apps and get to the widgets. I know it's a simple click of the tab but swiping thru seems much easier to me. Oh I also use Nova Launcher Prime. I have since my Bionic. If it's needed I can give a full list of every downloaded app including games that I have on my phone so that anyone with more knowledge than I on the matter can tell me what to get rid of and an alternative of that app if it's something that I really like.

Again I know all the rewards of rooting and I'm not exactly looking for every single reward that comes with doing it, just some of the better benefits of the ROMS that I could run and be happy with. I'm not sold on blinkfeed and I've had more experience with AOSP ROMS than any others. I've read a lot in here that those are really good with the DNA. Anywho, I look forward to the responses and hopefully somewhat fast ones! LOL

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

I know I was a bit long winded but can I get just a little bit of help?

 

[scotty85]

what help do you need?

if youre aware of the risks and benefits of rooting,then you are able to make the decision-rooting is something the rest of cannot(and should not) decide for you. i would take a look at the only method for rooting the DNA,and make sure youre comfortable with it. if youre not then the decision will be somewhat easier

moonshine s off

if you have issues with the windows tool,it may be neccessary to make an ubuntu live cd and run the tool in linux. several folks(including myself) couldnt achieve s off on windows,despite the normal command window showing adb and fastboot connectivity.

as you know,once rooted and running a custom recovery,you will not be able to accept OTAs. youll have to update manually from that point by flashing custom roms since a custom recovery is not capable of installing an htc OTA package.

hope that helps,just holler if you have further questions

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

Well you bring up several areas that now have me thinking again. So far I've read pretty much everything on rooting the DNA. One thing has me puzzled still. You mentioned and provided the link for Moonshine. I know there is an unlocking method available. I'm happy being on Verizon. Do I have to unlock the phone to root? Will that happen when I root? These are the little questions that pop up while I'm reading the rooting methods on any phone. I've been looking into ROM's, which I know until I root I have no chance of getting to but as far as that goes, I think I'd be happy with just being rooted.

I'm going to read some more right now so I can get a handle on what some of the things with rooting actually are. I've probably read it a million times but I still seem to think that with each phone s-off means something different.

 

[scotty85]

Well you bring up several areas that now have me thinking again. So far I've read pretty much everything on rooting the DNA. One thing has me puzzled still. You mentioned and provided the link for Moonshine. I know there is an unlocking method available. I'm happy being on Verizon. Do I have to unlock the phone to root? Will that happen when I root?

your confusing bootloader unlocking with sim unlocking. htc has an official unlock program that keeps the phone s on,yet allows access to the boot,system,and recovery partitions. this method is fine if you only need root access. for flashing roms,it complicates things. while its certainly better than nothing,and its technically possible to be a flashoholic with only an s on phone,it makes the process much more of a pain since boot images need to be manually installed.

unfortunately,you cant just go to htcdev's website and unlock your bootloader. you can thank big red for that. early builds were able to be tricked into changing the cid of the phone to "supercid" wich allowed htcdevs unlock process to work.

unfortunately,those holes have all been patched. your only option to root now is moonshine,thats why its the only link i gave you

for what its worth,your dna is allready sim unlocked. it will work fine on t mobile or att. no lte of course,but3g and hspa data will work.

These are the little questions that pop up while I'm reading the rooting methods on any phone. I've been looking into ROM's, which I know until I root I have no chance of getting to but as far as that goes, I think I'd be happy with just being rooted.

you can just be rooted with moonshine. technically you can accept OTAs while s off as long as you do not modify the rom at all,and keep the stock recovery and cid of the phone.

once you are s off,youll stay that way until you purposely turn s on. so being s off is good,even if you stay 100% s off,as it will allow you to install a recovery at any given time and be rooted/flash roms,even if exploits have been patched in new official builds.

I'm going to read some more right now so I can get a handle on what some of the things with rooting actually are. I've probably read it a million times but I still seem to think that with each phone s-off means something different.

reading is good. holler if you have questions.

imo,tho,s off is not any different. s off=security off,period. it allows easy rom flashing,and access to all the phones partions,and does not do any securtity checks when flashing things via the bootloader. you can go backwards in builds,and flash unsigned files.

the method to turn s off may vary across htc phones,but the phones all enjoy the same benefits afterward. now,s off likely does mean something different to each user.

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

OK, well Scotty as usual you have helped out so very much. I wanted more of a visual aide with doing this so I looked on YouTube and found a recent enough video on how to do moonshine and went from there. I found the maker of the video and method of rooting to have almost worried me about doing it because at first he wasn't getting moonshine root. He was only getting the s-off and unlocked bootloader. So he had to run it again. It wasn't exactly the top notch video that everyone should use but it worked for me. If the link is needed I can provide it for those who are interested.

And Scotty I understand what you were saying with s-off and all. I do however want to ask where do I go from here now that I'm rooted? The video mentioned to get twerp recovery and then I needed to put on SuperSu. To my understanding, at least in the past...that usually comes on a root package no matter the phone correct? But what I do know is that I'm rooted with S-off Moonshine. Thanks again Scotty

 

[scotty85]

And Scotty I understand what you were saying with s-off and all. I do however want to ask where do I go from here now that I'm rooted? The video mentioned to get twerp recovery and then I needed to put on SuperSu. To my understanding, at least in the past...that usually comes on a root package no matter the phone correct? But what I do know is that I'm rooted with S-off Moonshine. Thanks again Scotty

awsome! im glad you were able to run moonshine without much issue. IIRC,moonshine installs superSU as part of its process. you can verify that is or isnt there by checking your app drawer.

if you donnt find it,you will indeed need to install it. the decision is up to you wether you want a permantly installed recovery or not,since permantly installing recovery will mean you cannot accept OTAs.

you can follow directions here if you want to temporarily or permantly install recovery: http://androidforums.com/droid-dna-all-things-root/652672-guide-unlock-droid-dna.html#post5240221

just skip the htcdev unlock bit in step one,you allready have that. you just need to follow the step 2 recovery directions

if you do find supersu in your app drawer,you are done. you dont need to do anything further if you want to just run the stock rom

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

OK, so...I'm a bit confused Scotty. Well kind of. So with custom recovery I can't get the OTA's right? But if I do it on a temporary basis I can flash rom's and still get the OTA's? I ask because I was about to ask you if I needed to do safestrap to flash rom's or if that was for motorola devices only? And also after having looked at all the rom's available, I wanted your opinion as to where to start? I run Nova Launcher Prime and I love it. I hate the BIG bottom bar on stock so Nova works really well with having more home screen space. Also the custom size icons on the screen and overlapping feature that it has helps a lot too. I can post a screen shot or two for you to know how just my screen is set up and perhaps you can base your help off of that?

 

[scotty85]

OK, so...I'm a bit confused Scotty. Well kind of. So with custom recovery I can't get the OTA's right? But if I do it on a temporary basis I can flash rom's and still get the OTA's? I ask because I was about to ask you if I needed to do safestrap to flash rom's or if that was for motorola devices only? And also after having looked at all the rom's available, I wanted your opinion as to where to start? I run Nova Launcher Prime and I love it. I hate the BIG bottom bar on stock so Nova works really well with having more home screen space. Also the custom size icons on the screen and overlapping feature that it has helps a lot too. I can post a screen shot or two for you to know how just my screen is set up and perhaps you can base your help off of that?

safestrap/bootstrap is a motorola thing,as motorola devices do not have a dedicated recovery partition recovery is basically obtained by hyjacking the boot process,and sending it to a recovery,instead of the OS.

you can flash roms with a temporary recovery. however,this doesnt mean you can get OTAs. several factors need to be met:
-stock recovery
-stock rom
-stock CID
-all bloat and system files intact
-correct build
-correct firmware
-others im forgetting

in a nutshell:
you can probably OTA if you boot a temp recovery to install SU,then stay on the stock rom,and do not modifiy anything else.

if you want to flash roms,the process is generally easier if you install the recovery permantly,as you wont need a PC handy to boot the temporary recovery if its needed.

is it possible to falsh roms with a temp recovery? sure.

is it then possible to restore a stock nandroid with the temp recovery and let the phone OTA? probably. if you have nto modified other factors.

i would recomend to think about it,and make a decision wich direction youd like to go,then commit to one or the other.
option 1) stay stock,use temp recovery to install su,be able to accept OTAs

option 2) install recovery permantly so you can enjoy custom roms. manually update firmware and rom when needed.

hope that helps

 

[CoyotesFan4Evr]

Yes Scotty, that helped a bunch. Like I said I wasn't sure if safestrap was universal or not. I have SuperSU. That's not a problem. It came over when I rooted. So, here is where I'm at with flashing roms. HTC has stated as I'm sure you are aware of that by the end of the month there will be an update. Obviously that depends on Verizon pushing it when it gets released. I even spoke to an HTC tech about this while handling another matter and it was confirmed that by the end of this month. I'm interested in playing with blink feed and Sense 5 that comes on the HTC One. I was successful in side loading Facebook Home but with using Nova Launcher....I didn't like how they played together for my personal liking that is. No real issues just little things that bugged me.

So with that all being said, I should probably do the temp recovery and go that way with roms until we know about that update?? I'm not trying to get my hand held on this but I'm not getting a good picture of the direction I should go just yet.

Oh and rooted, I haven't messed with hardly anything. I used the built in disable feature to lock up all the apps I didn't want to run.